week 16: cool girl's guide to antique malls

how & what to shop at antique malls, the unsung hero of thrifts

This post is my plea to stop sleeping on antique malls.

Buying second-hand is hugely popular with Gen-z (of which I will identify with for the purpose of this article, as 99 baby I am slightly cusp).

Usually, they favor charity shops (Savers, Goodwill, or local Humane Society Shops). Maybe they dabble in the curated thrift stores, which are less big box but more expensive, and these days, honestly, might I say overpriced. (Think Wasteland, 2nd Street, or maybe your local small businesses with their own retro aesthetics.)

As someone who can confidently claim that 90% of their closet is second-hand, I am an expert at shopping at the above places.

While you might think of antique malls as the dirty, dusty, or th Great Aunt to your local curated second-hand shop, you would be sadly mistaken.

Instead of gatekeeping the antique mall between me and the AARP, I am going to share all my tips and tricks for antique mall shopping.

D- Doing, shopping at antique malls, duh.

I have been shopping at antique malls my whole life with my mom.

It never took a lot to convince me to go to a mall growing up, even if the mall was a converted barn filled with booths of dusty old plates and memorabilia.

When I became obsessed with shopping for clothes and home furnishings second-hand, the antique mall felt like a natural addition to my list of local spots to scour. Luckily for me, I live next to some of the best.

A recent haul of what I picked up after a day at my local antique malls:

I- Interested in: HOW TO SHOP AT ANTIQUE MALLS

Here are my beginner tips:

1. Visit often

   1. Booths are constantly getting new stuff

   2. The key to thrifting a wardrobe and home full of things you love is doing it slowly over time

2. Pay attention to booths that catch your eye and take note of their location

   1. Antique malls are made up of individual vendor booths, like curated mini thrift shops, usually with more reasonable prices

   2. If you like the overall vibe of a booth, note it as one to spend extra care looking through, and to come back to time and time again

3. Avoid optical fatigue by identifying the main types of booths and skipping over the categories that don’t serve you

   1. My main skips include: The Garage booth (things that would be in someone’s garage- sports gear, outdoor ephemera), The Kitschy’s Kitchen (pyrex, small porcelain animals, and doilies), The Wanna-be Boutique (a mix of used and contemporary)

   2. What is left? The Curated (well-curated collections of vintage clothes, home decor, and art), The Unexpected (not entirely bad, but not entirely good- best to find hidden gems), The Specialists (maybe they are booths composed of all vintage lingerie, or midcentury furnishings, but they have a clear niche)

4. Don’t forget the jewelry

   1. There are typically glass cases by the register filled with “finer jewelry” this is a great place to get affordable real sterling silver and gold jewelry. Many of the pieces are classics, and others are the original iteration of current trends.

   2. There are also almost always baskets and bowls filled with “costume jewelry” that are definitely worth digging in, especially with the current trend of big beaded necklaces and chunky bangles for summer

G- Getting: WHAT TO SHOP AT ANTIQUE MALLS

The main reason, I would ponder, that people my age are not going to Antique malls is they don’t know what to shop for while there.

Mistaking the antique mall as one large garage sale of vintage ephemera and kitschy kitchen wears is the downfall of the general, non-antiquing, gen-z public.

My favorite things to get at antique malls:

1. Clothing: thrifting trends is easy because style is cyclical. Take the jelly fisherman sandals I just picked up a the antique mall (pictured above). I had a similar pair in the early 2000s, and judging by the brand that is exactly when this pair was made. Similar shoes are retailing in the $100s this season from fast fashion companies.

2. Books: Especially in the coffee table variety. If you are paying full price for new decorative coffee table books you are either in a different tax bracket than most or you are dumb. Antique malls are filled with vintage coffee table books to match any home aesthetic.

3. Home wears: Baskets, bowls, art, plates, coasters… the list of homewares I have picked up at Antique Malls are endless. Not everything there is Kitschy kitchen aesthetic. Most things you pick up are better quality and will last longer than modern brands.

4. Hobbies: One area of items not to sleep on at antique malls is the hobbies items. I pick up vintage beads in dollar bins, or necklaces and bracelets with the intention of taking them apart and remaking them. There are also always a ton of notebooks, sketch books, and art supplies, much of which has never been used.

   

S- Suggesting: SKIP ONLINE ORDERING AND TRY ANTIQUING

My final thoughts:

Antiquing, thrifting, and shopping second hand is a practice of curation. When you don’t rely on fast fashion brands and targeted ads to tell you what to wear you are forced to find your personal style.

If you are chasing trends- It is also exponentially better for your environmental impact to buy trends second hands, especially if your only experimenting with them for a season or two. As most trends are cyclical there is no better way to shop them then from the source.

Antique malls, as an alternative too GoodWill and Savers, are small locally owned business that provide booth real-estate to other small local vendors or sellers. That is an economy you should feel good supporting.